Chapter Three
A Midnight Tragedy
Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap (1 Galatians 6:7).
ANOTHER Youth for Christ rally was over and we had just returned to our hotel room. It was midnight. Scores of young people had made decisions for Christ.
While getting ready for bed, T.W. Wilson and I were aware of the fact that there was a wild spree going on next door. We heard drunken laughter, shouting, kicking of furniture, and beating on walls.
Finally, after the lights were out, we tried to get to sleep. The next morning being Sunday, we must be up early to fill our morning appointments. Below, on the street, things were riding high in San Antonio. They didn't roll up the sidewalks in this Texas town at twelve o'clock on Saturday night!
But the street noises did not bother us half so much as the party next door. For two hours we rolled and tossed. T.W. said, "Let's go next door and ask those people to stop that noise." We put on our robes and slipped quietly into the hall. T.W., being the larger of the two of us, went to
Page 49
the door first. A quick rap and the door opened. The room was blue with smoke, and the smell of whisky nearly knocked us over.
A drunken man asked, "What do you fellows want?" T.W. said quickly, "We are trying to get some sleep next door, and we would appreciate a little more quietness." The man, overly jolly, said, "Won't you boys come in and have fun with us? We are having a wonderful time." We declined the invitation and went back to bed.
The party roared on past four o'clock. Even though we had called the house detective, it seemed that nothing could stop the wild festivities.
When we wakened next morning about eight o'clock, after having had only about four hours of sleep, all was as quiet as the night before Christmas. T.W. mischievously looked at me and, we started kicking and shouting. In a few minutes we received the desired result. Our boisterous friend of the previous evening came to the door with heavy eyes and foggy voice and said, "Won't you boys please be quiet so that we can get some sleep?" With friendly gestures and in a jolly manner we asked, "Won't you and your crowd come in and enjoy the fun? We are having a great time!" With a growl and an angry look he hustled back to bed. I think he had learned his lesson!
Many a Saturday night as I have walked back to my hotel room from a Youth for Christ rally I have heard the din, the boisterous noises and the hollow laughter of places of iniquity, places filled with evil and sin that certainly must be obnoxious to God. Often I have seen the world having its fling, enjoying the only heaven it will ever know.
I have often thought how glorious and wonderful it is to be a Christian; to know real joy and happiness; to be able to have a genuine ring in our laughter; to be able to smile in the face of every adversity. The crowd that is having
Page 50
the best time in the world is that crowd of young people who know Jesus Christ.
I want to take you in your imagination back twenty-five hundred years. Babylon rules the world. Situated at the top of the fertile Crescent, enclosed within walls so thick that four chariots could ride abreast around the top of it, pierced by a hundred bronze gates where sentinels stand watch day and night.
Babylon, mighty Babylon, on the left bank of the Euphrates River, the mightiest city in the world, at the crossroads of antiquity; the center of world-commerce; the richest city on earth. Out on the far flung battlefields of the world her armies were gaining victory after victory under the leadership of the victorious general Nabonidus.
The hanging gardens of Babylon were one of the seven wonders of the world and were built by Nebuchadnezzar for his Median queen the beautiful daughter of Xerxes, who had helped his father conquer Nineveh. These gardens were constructed on several tiers of arches, one over another, each bearing a solid platform four hundred feet square. The terraces were covered with flowers, shrubs, trees and gardens. Underneath, in the arches, were luxurious apartments.
As one looks at the ruins today he finds it hard to realize that there once stood the great Babylon, a city of extravagance and luxury beyond imagination, unsurpassed in the history of the world, but now a scene of utter desolation and ruin.
The king of Babylon at this particular time was Belshazzar (Daniel 5). He was young and handsome, a haughty, proud and high-spirited young man, puffed up with false glory that he had never earned. He was the kind of young fellow who never gave the serious things of life a second thought. His motto was: "Eat, drink and be merry, and have a good time." God was far from his thinking. He was determined to sow his wild oats and to
Page 51
have his fling. Although God had said, "The wages of sin is death" and, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," Belshazzar thought he could beat the game of sin. he thought he could get away with it.
Thus, in spite of the warning of God's servants, he determined to have a banquet, a party that would be second to none that the world had ever seen.
The luxury, the splendor and the brilliance of his extravagance would be the talk of the empire.
One day he called his chief servant and said, "I am going to put on a party that will be the biggest that this old world has ever seen. I want you to get the finest foods, the rarest wines, the best orchestra, the hottest dancers, and send invitations to a thousand of my lords and noblemen. I will show them." Thus the preparations got under way.
Could he get away with it? Could he disregard God in his life? Could he flout sin in God's face? Only a few years ago God had thrown his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar, from the throne because of sin. Could any man beat the game of sin? Could any young man go on, have his fling, sow his wild oats and never have to pay for it? Let's see!
The day dawns. The sky is an oriental blue. This day has been declared a holiday throughout all Babylon. The king is throwing a party for a thousand of his lords and noblemen. It will be the most extravagant banquet the world has seen. Everyone is excited. Bands are playing the national airs. Flags are unfurled. There is dancing in the streets. Gaily colored costumes are evident everywhere. Jeweled chariots are coming in from every part of the empire bringing ambassadors, army officers, nobles, lords and men of high distinction to Belshazzar's banquet.
The evening shadows gathered, and hundreds of people line the walks and streets to see the notables enter the great banquet hall. Belshazzar is the host. The soft oriental
Page 52
music excites the mind and flesh. Dancers dance; wine flows freely. The party continues into the night. The orchestra plays wilder tunes. The dancing gets faster and faster. Immorality and disgusting sin are evident everywhere.
A cloud comes over the moon that has been riding high in the sky as if to hide its face from the wicked scene below. A soft breeze sweeps over Babylon as if the elements are trying to blow away the shameful stench of sin.
It is almost midnight. Suddenly the intoxicated mind of the young king seems to have gone wild. He calls a servant to him, whispers in his ear, and the servant leaves the hall. In a few moments the servant comes back bearing in his arms the gold and silver vessels of God. What is the young king about to do? Does he dare to shake his fist in God's face? Are not these the vessels that had been dedicated to the use of God in the Temple at Jerusalem? Are they not sacred? Does he dare to desecrate them?
He stands and orders the servants to pass the vessels. Then he proposes a toast to the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood and stone. The guests are breathless. They did not think that the young king would dare to go this far but in their wild, intoxicated, carefree spirit they assent with ungodly laughter. The party grows wilder and wilder.
Again Belshazzar stands to propose a toast and holds in his hand one of the ornate golden vessels of God. Suddenly the vessel crashes to the table. Belshazzar's face turns white. The joints of his loins are loosed and his knees smite one against the other. A deathlike silence grips the banquet hall. Women scream and faint. Every person's eye is riveted to one spot on the wall. An armless hand is writing over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall. The young king has come face to face
Page 53
with the supernatural for the first time in his life, and he is afraid.
He has an army, but he is afraid. His coffers are filled with silver, gold and precious jewels, but he is afraid. He is surrounded by his best friends, but he is afraid.
Isn't it strange that people can go through life and never give God a thought, live their own lives and go their own way instead of God's way, but when they come to die they regret the past and are afraid.
I talked with a man in America some months ago about eleven o'clock one evening. He was dying. He gripped my hand and said, "I am afraid to die. I am afraid to die." This man had been a strong, healthy man who had lived his own life in his own way, never giving God, Christ or the Bible a second thought, but when he came to die he was afraid.
Before I was converted I lived as I jolly well pleased until I got into a tight spot and didn't know whether I would get out of it or not. I was always nervous and afraid and wished that my past life had been different. I felt it was perhaps too late for me to find a new direction.
Belshazzar was frightened. He tried to interpret the writing on the wall, but he could not. He called in the astrologers, the Chaldeans and the soothsayers and said to them, "Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom" (Daniel 5:7). They were an overconfident lot. They were the scientists, the philosophers and the psychologists of the day. Certainly they could read and interpret anything. Confidently they could read and interpret anything. Confidently they set about their work. Soon their faces turned white, and trembling they left the banquet hall one by one. They could not read the writing. Why? I will tell you. It is impossible for a man outside of God to read God's handwriting (1 Corinthians 2:14): "But the natural man receiveth not
Page 54
the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
That is the reason many of you do not understand the Bible. It is like a foreign language to you because these things are spiritually discerned, and only a man whose mind and heart has been illuminated by the Holy Spirit can read and understand God's handwriting.
By this time Belshazzar's mother came. Thank God for godly mothers! Even when we grow older, the advice and counsel of a godly mother is better than that of wise men. I thank God for Christian parents who reared me in the fear, nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Belshazzar's mother realized the predicament of her young son and said, "O king, live for ever: let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed: there is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers; forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar: now let Daniel be called, and he will shew the interpretation."
Immediately Belshazzar took his mother's advice and sent for Daniel. Daniel was brought in. Though they put him in a lion's den he would stand true to God. He was strong, magnificent, of sterling character. His righteous, piercing eye convicted Belshazzar before either had spoken.
"Daniel! do you see that writing on the wall? If you can read that writing I will put a gold chain around your neck. I will make you the third ruler in the empire, and I will put royal robes on you." Notice Daniel's answer.
Page 55
There was no weakness here! Young people often think that when they come to Christ they have to be sissies. They think Christianity is a sign of weakness. Let me tell you, there is no place for weaklings in the kingdom of God. God wants real men and real women who are willing to stand the gaff, who have real blood in their veins — men and women of courage and strength.
Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation. O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour: And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down. But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will. And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified: Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written. And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
Belshazzar quaked and cringed. He was afraid. His heart was pierced with conviction at his own folly. God's words came back to him: "Whatever a man soweth, that shall he also reap"; "The wages of sin is death"; "The soul that sinneth, it shall die."
The piercing scream of a sentry could be heard at the
Page 56
gate. While the party had been at a high pitch the great Medo-Persian army had changed the course of the great Euphrates River and had marched under the walls of Babylon. That night Belshazzar the king was slain. His soul went out into eternity without God and without hope to a place of everlasting punishment! God had said, "Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting."
Notice, he wasn't weighed in the balance of what other people thought of him or even in the balance of his own thinking. He was weighed in God's balance. He didn't weigh enough. He didn't measure up. He didn't stack up. He was like the man of whom Jesus tells who looked from one moonlit field to the other and said, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry."
The king retired to bed. An agonizing scream pierced the midnight air. The servants rushed here and there. Finally one of them said, "It is the master's room." Breaking down the door, they found the master writhing and dying. His hands were folded in a strange manner as though he had been holding on to something and suddenly it had slipped away. Then a voice from heaven was heard which said, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee." The king had been weighed in the balance of God and found wanting.
Tonight God is weighing you! How much do you weigh?
Let's look at an old pair of country scales for a moment.
On one side is the holiness of God. On the other side is you.
God says the scales must balance. In other words, you must be as holy as God before you can enter heaven and before the scales can balance.
Let's see what God requires. Have I broken God's commandments? Am I a sinner? Have I sinned against Him?
1. Sin is any transgression of the law in act, in thought,
Page 57
or in implication (1 John 3:4): "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law."
We may say that the law is summed up in the Ten Commandments. The entire moral law is summarized in these rules of life, which express God's holiness. The ceremonial laws were expressly commended to Jews under the law and to nobody else, but the moral laws are for all.
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Perhaps you have broken that commandment by permitting a heart affection for money or something besides God. If so, you have bowed to another idol. To bow and to worship before a saint of any kind is idolatry, whether that idol be a picture of Christ or an image of the Virgin Mary or a crucifix or the likeness of a saint. If you have bowed before it, you have sinned. You have transgressed the law.
Let's look at another commandment. "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." Cursing or using God's name as a byword, saying "Praise the Lord" when we don't mean it from the heart, pretending to praise God in prayer when actually we are thinking more of the people than of God, closing a prayer in "Jesus' Name" when we are not asking the petition for Jesus' sake — these are sin, violation of the third commandment.
Another of the commandments says, "Honour thy father and thy mother." If there has been a time when you have not, you have sinned. You have transgressed if you have failed to provide for your parents' needs when they were old or dependent.
"Thou shalt not kill" is the fourth command. Jesus said, "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer." You are guilty!
"Thou shalt not commit adultery." Jesus said, "I say unto you. That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." In God's eyes lust is adultery.
Page 58
"Thou shalt not steal." Most of us have broken this command. We have pulled a few shady deals. We have gotten the best of bargains.
"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." Even little so-called "white lies" break this commandment. All of us are guilty of transgressing this law.
"Thou shalt not covet." Perhaps we have coveted something that is our neighbor's. If we have broken only one, and that only slightly, we are transgressors nevertheless: "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 2:10).
How do you balance?
Today you are being weighed in the balance of God. On one side is God's holiness, summed up in the Ten Commandments. On the other side are you, a lawbreaker, condemned and guilty.
These commandments were summarized by Jesus in Matthew 22:37-40:
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Commands to do are simply particular details of the one great command to love. Obedience to God's commandments which doesn't flow simply and naturally out of a heart of love for God and all mankind is not genuine fulfillment of the law. Outwardly you may be perfectly blameless concerning the Ten Commandments, yet you may have violated every one of them in your heart.
2. If you have neglected a known duty, you have sinned (James 4:17): Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." Every time you abstain from what you ought to do, you sin. "And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for
Page 59
whatsoever is not of faith is sin" (Romans 14:23). If you fret or worry, that is sin. Faith is the highest virtue a man can have. Unbelief is the worst sin.
3. Even the thought of foolishness is sin (Proverbs 24:9): "The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men."
4. If you have made a vow to God and not kept it, you have sinned (Deut. 23:21): "When thou shalt vow a vow unto the Lord thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the Lord thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee." Have you kept all the resolutions you have made? God's standard is His own standard of perfection and righteousness. You cannot give the excuse "Others are doing it" or "There are hypocrites in the Church."
Today God is weighing you by His own standard. As you are being weighed in the balance, God says:
1. "There is no man that sinneth not" (1 Kings 8:46).
2. "There is no man which sinneth not" (2 Chron. 6:36).
3. "There is none good but one, that is, God" (Matthew 19:17).
4. "What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin" (Romans 3:9).
5. "There is none righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:12; Psalm 14:3).
6. "There is none that doeth good, no not one" (Romans 3:12; Psalm 14:3).
7. "There is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:22-23).
8. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8).
You are nervous and afraid. From the depths of your heart and soul you want these scales to balance. How can you balance them? Where can you turn? You decide to join a church because you think that getting your name on a church roll will help to balance the scales, so you
Page 60
commit the salvation of your soul to a church. You perform the rites, pay the money and think you have done all you can do, but you are still worried. You are still not sure. You still have doubts. The scales still do not balance.
There is no church, no religion, no priest, no minister, no church sacrament, no ordinance that can save your soul or balance the scales. You may join the church, be faithful to it, give of your money, and still be lost. The church cannot save.
Then you decide to be good. You treat your neighbors as you would have them treat you. You do your best to live up to the precepts of the Sermon on the Mount. You follow the Golden Rule. You do the best you can. You become respectable. No, no, you can't earn eternal life! If I could make the scales balance that way, or if I could get to heaven in such a manner, I would be able to throw out my chest and cry, "Look at me! I saved myself. I got here by doing the best I could!" The Bible says, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8).
You decide to follow the teachings of Christ, but if teachings could save, you could turn to Buddha or Confucius. Their teachings are among the most beautiful in the world, but they cannot save. Nor can the doctrines and the precepts of Christ save. His teachings tell us how to be saved, but they don't save.
You decide to be baptized and take communion because you think that somehow being dipped in water or taking of the wine and bread will save your soul. But, alas, you are disillusioned.
How, then, can the scales be balanced? "What can I do?" you cry: Here is the simple and plain answer from the Word of God: "Tell us the way!" exclaimed Thomas. "We know not the way to God. How can the scales balance?"
Page 61
Jesus answered, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Ah, there it is!
"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:16-18). "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24). "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Romans 10:9). "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name" (John 1:12).
There is the answer! Simple childlike faith in Jesus Christ.
One night ten years ago I put my hand by faith in His nail-scarred hand. My heart was thrilled and my soul leaped with new life as in the twinkling of an eye I was clothed in the righteousness of Christ. The scales balanced for the first time in my life. I knew I was saved. There was no doubt about it. It was not "maybe so" or "I hope so" or "I think so." It is a glad shout: "I know so!"
A young college atheist wrote to his godly father, "I don't believe in God. When I come home on vacation I don't want you to cram religion down my throat by taking
Page 62
me to church." His father, who was a Baptist deacon down South, was brokenhearted.
War came. This young man volunteered for the Army Air Corps. Because of his brilliance and ability he was made a major at the age of twenty-three.
He had bombed Germany fifty-two times and one night was on his way back across the Channel after having dropped his bombs on Berlin. Suddenly one of his motors caught fire. He ordered the crew to jump. He set the controls and then he jumped. To use his own words, "By the time I hit the silk (parachuted) I was praying to the God who a few months ago I denied existed, and by the time I hit the water I knew my father's Christ." Converted in an instant from a sinner to a saint! When the motor caught fire he was on his road to hell! By the time he plunged into the water he was on his way to heaven!
Salvation is the most simple process in the world. It is simple, childlike faith in Jesus Christ. He can accept you now. At this instant He will hear your prayer and save your soul.
Chapter Four || Table of Contents